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shifter lock-out, 85 XR7, R-N-D only, not Park

Thank you for your time. I have been searching forum archives for this question, but have not succeeded so far.

I have the 85 Cougar XR7, with the A4LD auto trans. The shifter began locking "out", allowing me only R-N-D. I cannot get the shifter up into Park.

Is the dysfunction IN the shifter or is it over in the steering column? I have been searching for awhile for this problem. I ran across someone mentioning a difficulty in the column with these models. I have lost that link.

If anyone has experience with this difficulty, could you share a link or explain what is going wrong?

I've had the floor shifter lock me out of gears just like that in the past. It's likely the white rod inside the shifter has broken. That's kind of common as these cars age. Some people call them "gerbil balls" LOL.

To see it, you should have the car off in Park, and set the parking brake. Then manually pull the shifter down to 1, and press in on the button on the handle while simultaneously pulling up on the handle, toward you. You may need to wiggle the handle a bit but the handle WILL come off that way. Inside the shifter shaft you'll see the plastic rod. If you can get to it (needlenose pliers, perhaps), you can remove it and check to see that it's broken. It's common for some of the it to remain in the bottom there.

NOS replacement rods are tough to find. I believe someone here had been experimenting with a replacement rod. Maybe they could chime in...?

You'd be looking for p/n E7SZ-7E148-A. Just did a quick check on eBay and on the webs...nothing. They're very, very difficult to find. You could always get one from another shifter, if you can find one of those.